The Academies Act 2010, one of the first government bills introduced in the Conservative - Liberal Democrat coalition government, allowed publicly funded schools in England to become academies, still publicly funded but with a vastly increased degree of autonomy in issues such as setting teachers' wages and diverging from the National Curriculum.
The Education Act 2011 makes changed to many areas of educational policy, including the power of school staff to discipline students, the manner in which newly trained teachers are supervised, the regulation of qualifications, the administration of local authority maintained schools, academies, the provision of post-16 education, including vocational apprenticeships, and student finance for higher education. It abolished the General Teaching Council for England, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and the Training and Development Agency for Schools and other bodies.
In 2008, a new law was passed (the Education and Skills Act 2008). This affected education mainly from 2013 onward as it said that by 2013, all young people in England have to stay on in education or training at least part-time until they are 17 years old. It also said that by 2015, all young people will have to stay on in education or training at least part-time, until they are 18 years old.
This means that post-2015, all young people were now required to participate in education or training through either full-time education or training, including school, college and home education; work-based learning, such as an apprenticeship; or part-time education or training or volunteering more than 20 hours a week.